Yemenite Jewish ethnicity indicates genetic origins in the Jewish community of Yemen.The Yemenite Jewish community is among the oldest Jewish communities in the world. According to Yemeni tradition, the origin of the community harks back to the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem (586 B.C.E.). The distinct features of Yemeni Jewry — including its liturgy, accent, customs, and more — set it apart from the both Ashkenazi Jewry (Central and Eastern European) and Sephardic Jewry (North Africa and the Middle East). After thousands of years of settlement in Yemen, Yemenite Jews began to emigrate to the Holy Land in the 1880s. By the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, nearly half of all Yemenite Jews had moved to Israel, with the vast majority emigrating over the subsequent few years. Today, Jews from Yemen and their descendants living in Israel number around 400,000, with smaller communities in the United States and United Kingdom. Only a handful of Jews remain in Yemen.
Yemenite Jewish history
Archeological evidence points to the presence of Jews in Yemen at least as early as the Second Temple period (516 B.C.E.–70 C.E.). Modern scholars ascribe the beginning of Jewish settlement in the region to the affluent spice trade which emerged around the third century B.C.E., passing through the port of Aden on its way to the Mediterranean. Around the year 380 C.E., the Himyarite Kingdom — which ruled over vast areas of Yemen since the second century B.C.E. — adopted Judaism as its official religion. For the next century and a half, Jewish monarchs would rule the empire, until its conquest by the Christian Aksumite Kingdom (modern Eritrea and Ethiopia) in 520 C.E.
Yemenite Jews were oppressed under Christian rule, but their fortunes turned when the Sasanian Empire of Persia subdued the Aksumite Kingdom in the year 575. The ascent of Islam in the seventh century and the personal trajectory of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers is inextricably linked to the Jewish community in Yathrib (later to be renamed Medina) who, together with the city’s Arab inhabitants, invited Muhammad in the year 620 to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community as a neutral outsider.
Jewish fortunes under Muslim rule were mixed. Designated as Ahl al-Kitab (“People of the Book”) together with Christians, Jews were allowed to practice their religion under a certain set of restrictions and limitations, which were often not enforced. Under Zaidi rule in the twelfth century, Jews faced increasing oppression, culminating in an ultimatum between conversion to Islam or martyrdom. The Ayyubid conquest of Yemen in 1173 ended these persecutions, and subsequent Rasulid rule (1229–1454) ushered in a period of stability and prosperity for Yemenite Jews. Throughout the medieval and early modern period, Yemenite Jewish scholars corresponded with other Jewish scholars from important centers, such as Safed in the Galilee region of the Land of Israel and Cairo in Egypt. In the twlfth century, the renowned Jewish philosopher and scholar Maimonides sent his Iggeret Teman (“Epistle to Yemen”) to counsel the head of the Jewish community in Yemen. The writings of Maimonides — namely his magnum opus, Mishneh Torah — are central to the Yemeni liturgical tradition, which adopted his legal rulings as standard practice. The later introduction of the Kabbalistic tradition of Isaac Luria (Ha’ari) of Safed divided Yemeni Jewry into two groups, Baladi Jews (adherents of Maimonides) and Shami Jews (who modified their rites to accommodate the innovations of Luria).
Under the rule of Zaidi Imams in the seventeensth century, Jews faced increasing persecution, including forced expulsions, confiscation of property, and destruction of places of worship. The British conquest of the port of Aden in 1839 allowed Jewish merchants to flourish, such as the notable Menahim Messa family. Starting in the 1880s, successive waves of Yemenite Jews emigrated to the Holy Land, with a brief interruption during the First World War. In 1949, the newly formed State of Israel initiated an airlift operation, dubbed “Operation Magic Carpet,” to evacuate the Yemeni Jewish population, who were facing increasing hostilities from the Muslim population. By 1950, the bulk of Yemenite Jews had emigrated to Israel, with thousands more to follow them through the remainder of the century.
Yemenite Jewish culture
Known for its complex spices and rich, flavorful dishes, Yemenite Jewish cuisine has gained tremendous popularity in Israel. Jewish communities in different regions in Yemen boasted distinct culinary traditions, but shared several elements, such as the emphasis on pastries and the use of hilbe — a paste made from fenugreek seeds and hot pepper, traditionally added to soups and other dishes. Popular Yemenite Jewish food include malawah (a flatbread consisting of thin layers of puff pastry, traditionally served with hard-boiled eggs, hot sauce, and grated tomato dip), jahnun (a pastry prepared from thin, tightly-rolled dough cooked slowly overnight, traditionally served on Shabbat morning), and Yemenite soup (a chicken, lamb, or beef soup spiced with hawayej: a Yemeni ground spice mixture made from cumin, black pepper, turmeric and cardamom).
The unique artistic tradition of Yemenite Jewry has significantly impacted Israeli culture. In the early twentieth century, Yemenite Jewish silversmithing was perceived by early Zionist artists as an expression of authentic Jewish craftsmanship. The musical tradition of Yemenite Jews played a particularly central role in the development of the “Mizrahi” (also known as “Mediterranean”) music genre in Israel. Pioneers include Tzion Golan (born 1955), who performs mainly in Judeo-Yemeni; Zohar Argov (1955–1987), known as the “King of Mizrahi Music” and arguably the most influential Mizrahi singer of all times; and Margalit “Margol” Tzan‘ani, an Aden-born Israeli singer and television personality. In recent years, the contemporary Mediterranean- and Balkan-inspired pop of the all-female vocal group A-WA, performed exclusively in Judeo-Yemeni, has prompted a renewed interest in the Judeo-Yemini music in Israel.
Yemenite Jewish languages
Historically, Yemenite Jews spoke a dialect of Judeo-Arabic known as Judeo-Yemeni. The language was essentially a dialect of Yemeni Arabic heavily infused with Hebrew and Aramaic. The dialect was not uniform, and regional variations were spoken in different parts of the county. Like other Judeo-Arabic dialects, Judeo-Yemeni was written in the Hebrew script. In synagogues, Hebrew and Aramaic served as liturgical languages, while the local Yemeni Arabic dialect was used to communicate with Muslim neighbors. Today, most Yemenite Jews speak either modern Hebrew or the local languages of the countries they settled in.
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